Animal catching and holding device.



No. 729,332. PATENTED'MAY 26, 1903. U 4 -F. c. GUSS. ANIMAL GATCHING ANDHOLDING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION PILEDJULY 21. 1902.

I0 MODEL.

Fraivifd. Gus:

UNITED STATES Patented may 26, 1 903.,

PATENT OFFICE.

' FRANK c. cuss, on ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ANIMAL CATCHING AND HOLDING DEVICE SPECIFICATION forming part Of LettersPatent NO. 729,332, dated May 26, 199 3 Application filed July 21, 1902.Serial No 116,402- No model.)

To (1.7/1 inhom- H'- HML'I/ ('(llbllflll'l Be it known that l, FRANKGUsS, resid-- ing at St. Louis, in the State of M issonri, have inventeda new and Improvml Animal Catch-- onto the animals leg when brought incontact therewith; and it primarily has for its purpose to provide adevice oi this character of a very simple and inexpensive construction,capable of being easily manipulated, and which when brought intoengagement with the animal will not injure the leg or be painful in itsapplication thereto.

In its generic nature'my nv ention comprises a pole, the outer end ofwhich has the shape of a she'pherds crook and which carries a' pair ofjaws whose opposing 3" aces pro-.

vide a foi ke'dwr converging way, whereby the same may be convenientlyguided onto the leg of the anima'l and which are yieldingly supported tospring over the animals leg and automatically close thereover.

In its more complete nature'my invention consists in a pole having afixed j aw, a hinged jaw. for opposing the fixed jaw,the' two jawsdiverging from the pole and terminating at.

- the pole end in a semicircular seat, and a combined spring guide andclasp for each jaw, each joined at the outer end, to its respective jawand having portions curved .to oppose the semicircular seat at the poleend,

' whereby to provide a pocket forenvircling i. hinged jaw and thepassing of the guide and.

clasp members over the legof the animal.

the leg of the animal, said combined guide and clasp members also havinga'novel slidable connection with the jaws, whereby to sustain them intheir proper relative positions during the lateral movement of theFigure l is a perspective View of my invention. Fig. :2 is asideelevation of the end of a pole with my improvements applied, the jawsbeing shown closed and parts in section to showthe ferrule-actuatingspring devices hereinafter referred to. Fig. 3 is a similar View, thehinge-jaw being shown swung open. Fig -i is a detail perspective view ofa por tion of the hinged jaw with its combined at tached guide and claspmember. Fig. '5 is a cross-section taken practically on the line 5 5 ofFig. 2. of jaw hereinafter explained.

In the practical construction myinvention emhodies a pole 1, with whichthe fixedlyheld jaw, presently referred to, may be an integral part; butto provide for using a detachable pole the two jaws A and B are con-.nected to a socket-piece 2, of metal, provided with'the fixedly-held jawA and having means for properly sustaining the hinged jawB;

' The two jaws A and'B consist of the diverg- Fig. 6 is aviewof amodified form- .positively throw the said jaw l3 to its open position aflat spring (1 is fixed to that face of the jaw A against which the faceb of the jaw abuts when the two jaws are in-their closed position. Thetwo jaws are relatively, supported to provide a forked. or diverging wayto facilitate pushing the device into an operative position on the legof the animal to be caught, and the parts (i 'b of the two jaws mergingwith the socket 2 are curved to form a semicircular'seat w, thepurposeof which will be presently explained.

To the outer end of each jaw is fixedly secured a fiat spring-plated 4,which curves in the portions a and b of the two jaws,and said members 5,in conjunction with the said portions a b of the two jaws, produce asubstantially circular clasp adapted to embrace grasping the leg of theanimal the jaw portions a b are provided with elongated slot-s a a andthe rods with heads 5 to engage with the said slots, as clearly shown inFigs. 2 and 4.

6 designates aferrule slidable over .the socket-piece 2 and normallyforced to its upper or jaw-locking position by a spring 7. (See Fig. 2.)The ferrule when to its normal 'position (see Fig. 1) encases the hingedend to a pointbelow the hinged joint, the jaw B' of the jaw B and holdsthe same firmly locked to oppose the jaw A. Whenpushed down is permittedto swing open to the position shown in Fig. 3.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,it, is believed the advantages of my invention and the manner of itsoperation will be clearly understood.

It will be'noticed', the two jaws A and B being normally closed to theposition shown in Fig. 2, the two members 4 4 form a forked end to fitagainst the leg of the animal, and in fitting same a. slight pressurewill cause the members 4 4 to open up and slip over the leg until thecircular pocket receives it, when thetwo plat-es 4 4 resume their normalposition and clasp the leg, the whole forming, as it were, a circularhand for the leg. During the operation of applying the device the jaw Bremains as a rigid member, being so held by the ferrule. To releasetheanimal, the ferrule is pulled down below the hinged joint of jaw B,which, by reason of the spring for.

forcing it outward and the pull of the leg against the part b, the saidjaw is swung out to theposition shown in Fig.

Slight changesin the details ofconstruction may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Pat- -'ent, is

1. An animal-catcher, comprising a leg-engaging member having abifurcated end, forming two opposing jaws, and bearing-surfaces for theopposing faces of the jaws, said surface being convergingly secured tothe jaws fixedly held at their outer ends to the said inner or apexportion of the jaws being curved 6 5 laterally, means for holding thehinged jaw to pocket, one of the jaws being hinged to swing j itsclosedposition, the opposing faces of the 1 jaws having converging yieldableportions that abut at a point centrally of the curved pocket,substantially as shown and for the purposes described.

4. In an animal-catcher, as described, the

combination with the pole having forkeiF jaws, whose converging ends arecurved to form a circular pocket; of the plates 4 4, fixedly securedatone end to the jaws, said plates'beingcurvedinwardlyand'havingtheirfree ends held to abut at a point in line with the circular pocket, andthe rods 5 5 secured to the abutting ends of the plate 4, and havingtheir free ends slidable through the aforesaid forked jaws, for thepurposes specified.

5. The combination with the pole; of a socket-piece having divergingjaws, the inner or converged portions of which are curved on the are ofa circle, said curved portions each having an elongated slot, thespring-plates 4 4 fixedly secured to the outer ends of the jaws, theirinner ends abutting at a point midway the curved portions of the twojaws, the rods 5' secured to the free ends of the plates 4, said rods '5being curved on'a circle and opposing the curved part of the jaws, andmeans on the free ends of the rods'5 for slidably engaging the slots inthe said curved vergingly disposed between the two jaws with their freeends normally abutting and the curved rods5 secured to the free ends ofthe plates 4 4, the free ends of the rods 5 being held to engage theinner faces of the curved portions of the jaws and having a guidingmeans for engaging the slots in the said curved portions, all beingarranged substanti ally as shown and for the purposes described. FRANKC. GUSS. \Vitnesses:

W. G. PADDOCK, FRANK P. FORD.

